That's the only thing that can account for me missing not one, but TWO entries for VRC: Mardi Gras on Sunday night. I must have been blogging in my sleep.
So, now I offer up my humble apologies to Mickey at Kitchen Inferno for missing a perfectly lovely post about Valentine's Day which happened to review a New Orleans-themed chicken dish. I have added it to the roundup, so click here to check it out.
Nothing going on in the kitchen tonight except a simple dinner of tuna melts. However, this dinner does help us use up the many bagels in our freezer, given to us by my in-laws when they had to move and couldn't take them. It feels good to not let them go to waste.
Tune in tomorrow for Weigh-In Wednesday. I'll be stepping on the scale and talking about my diet or, rather, eating philosophy. If you'd like to join me and talk about your healthful endeavors, just send me an email with a link to your blog and I'd be happy to include a link in my post - which will probably go up tomorrow night by about 9 or 10 p.m.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Banana Muffins, Stroganoff and a Big Oops.
First the oops. I forgot a post for VRC: Mardi Gras! My very humble apologies to Susan from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen for forgetting to post her entries. With such a light crowd this week, you'd think it would be hard to overlook! I have posted her entries at the top of the roundup, so be sure to take a look.
Last night I whipped up a batch of banana muffins and promised the share the recipe tonight. While I thought the muffins were very good, I thought the molasses overwhelmed the banana flavor. DH liked them quite well. I'd like to find a different whole grain banana muffin that lets the flavor of banana shine through a bit more. Still, it's definitely a recipe worth sharing.....
Tonight I cooked up some mushroom stroganoff - a recipe I chose to help use up some of the wheat blend egg noodles rattling around in my pantry. I didn't follow a recipe - just a little of this and a little of that. It came out pretty well, but it seemed to be missing something. Maybe it was just the flavor of pork or beef that was missing. I have a feeling that if I'm making a vegetarian stroganoff, I'd be better off using the full-fat sour cream to help compensate for the flavor. Wild mushrooms would also add a lot more flavor, but our store only had white button mushrooms. I'll include a link to a rough recipe of what I did.
Last night I whipped up a batch of banana muffins and promised the share the recipe tonight. While I thought the muffins were very good, I thought the molasses overwhelmed the banana flavor. DH liked them quite well. I'd like to find a different whole grain banana muffin that lets the flavor of banana shine through a bit more. Still, it's definitely a recipe worth sharing.....
Tonight I cooked up some mushroom stroganoff - a recipe I chose to help use up some of the wheat blend egg noodles rattling around in my pantry. I didn't follow a recipe - just a little of this and a little of that. It came out pretty well, but it seemed to be missing something. Maybe it was just the flavor of pork or beef that was missing. I have a feeling that if I'm making a vegetarian stroganoff, I'd be better off using the full-fat sour cream to help compensate for the flavor. Wild mushrooms would also add a lot more flavor, but our store only had white button mushrooms. I'll include a link to a rough recipe of what I did.
Mushroom-Spinach Stroganoff
Tags: muffins, banana, whole grain, stroganoff, vegetarian
That's it for tonight. Stay tuned this week for the Wednesday Weigh-In (and join me if you'd like) and more tales from the kitchen.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
VRC: Mardi Gras
It was a quieter week for VRC this time around. It does seem a bit strange to celebrate Mardi Gras while folks are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina, but I think it really shows the true spirit of NO that they are carrying on with parades and a celebration in spite of everything.
One of the reasons that I think DH and I latch onto Mardi Gras is because it's an excuse to have a party in the middle of a long winter. Most people have had it with winter by the middle of February - so close to spring and yet so far since we all know perfectly well that while March can bring milder weather, it can also bring blizzards. Mardi Gras is loud and colorful and spirited - the perfect remedy for the winter blahs. Except preferably without the naked part. We give our beads out freely, no strings attached. It's too bad really - about the whole flashing for beads thing. There's having fun and then there's turning a spirited celebration into Girls Gone Wild.
For this week's installment of VRC, we have.......
One of the reasons that I think DH and I latch onto Mardi Gras is because it's an excuse to have a party in the middle of a long winter. Most people have had it with winter by the middle of February - so close to spring and yet so far since we all know perfectly well that while March can bring milder weather, it can also bring blizzards. Mardi Gras is loud and colorful and spirited - the perfect remedy for the winter blahs. Except preferably without the naked part. We give our beads out freely, no strings attached. It's too bad really - about the whole flashing for beads thing. There's having fun and then there's turning a spirited celebration into Girls Gone Wild.
For this week's installment of VRC, we have.......
Mickey from Kitchen Inferno brings us a New Orlean's inspired dish
that they served for Valentine's Day - Chicken Rochambeau
that they served for Valentine's Day - Chicken Rochambeau
Susan from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen, is from Southeast Louisiana, so she is certain to know a few things about this theme. She submitted a yummy-sounding recipe for
Real Louisiana Red Beans and Rice.
Susan also posted a recipe for Chickpea Gumbo over at Alanna's blog
A Veggie Venture.
Real Louisiana Red Beans and Rice.
Susan also posted a recipe for Chickpea Gumbo over at Alanna's blog
A Veggie Venture.
Michele of Chef Michele's Adventures bring us two recipes from
her repertoire. A Smoked Sausage Jambalaya and a classic, Red Beans and Rice.
her repertoire. A Smoked Sausage Jambalaya and a classic, Red Beans and Rice.
Erika from Tummy Treasure submitted a recipe for Jambalaya.
Great comfort food - sausage and seafood and rice, nicely spiced.
Tami (a new-to-me blogger with gorgeous photos)
from Running with Tweezers chimed in with
a festive and delicious Bloody Mary/gazpacho-like/seafood soup -
Bloody Mary Soup with Crab.
Just look at those delectable lumps of crab.....I'm drooling.....
Patti from Adventures in Food and Wine submits another Jambalaya recipe.
Jambalaya varies so much from recipe to recipe - it's so interesting to see
all the different ways to make this versatile dish.
Another new-to-me blogger, Fuzzbean, at Fuzzbean.net adds some sweet toh the savory Mardi Gras fare shown here so far with a delicious-looking King Cake, and a great sense of humor.
Yesterday I whipped up our favorite recipes ever, Cajun or otherwise.
It's a recipe hailing from one of New Orleans premier chefs, Chef Paul Prudhomme
Cajun Seafood Gumbo with Andouille Smoked Sausage.
Great comfort food - sausage and seafood and rice, nicely spiced.
Tami (a new-to-me blogger with gorgeous photos)
from Running with Tweezers chimed in with
a festive and delicious Bloody Mary/gazpacho-like/seafood soup -
Bloody Mary Soup with Crab.
Just look at those delectable lumps of crab.....I'm drooling.....
Patti from Adventures in Food and Wine submits another Jambalaya recipe.
Jambalaya varies so much from recipe to recipe - it's so interesting to see
all the different ways to make this versatile dish.
Another new-to-me blogger, Fuzzbean, at Fuzzbean.net adds some sweet toh the savory Mardi Gras fare shown here so far with a delicious-looking King Cake, and a great sense of humor.
Yesterday I whipped up our favorite recipes ever, Cajun or otherwise.
It's a recipe hailing from one of New Orleans premier chefs, Chef Paul Prudhomme
Cajun Seafood Gumbo with Andouille Smoked Sausage.
And last, but not least, I need to announce next week's VRC theme. Since the less complicated themes seem to attract the most participants, I'm going to keep it simple. If that doesn't work in attracting more participants, I may go back to the once a month format.
This month it's something that everyone has a recipe for, somewhere in their recipe files, if not many, many recipes. The theme for next week is ITALIAN FOODS. Anything Italian - main dish, side dish, dessert, it's up to you. So send in your links - remember, it can be a link to a recipe that's already been published on your blog - you do not have to actually cook the recipe this week. For more information on how VRC works, check out this FAQ page. In order to give folks ample time to try out a new recipe or to get around to sending a link, I will be posting the roundup on Mondays. This will give everyone a whole weekend. So, look for the VRC: Italian roundup on Monday, March 6.
This month it's something that everyone has a recipe for, somewhere in their recipe files, if not many, many recipes. The theme for next week is ITALIAN FOODS. Anything Italian - main dish, side dish, dessert, it's up to you. So send in your links - remember, it can be a link to a recipe that's already been published on your blog - you do not have to actually cook the recipe this week. For more information on how VRC works, check out this FAQ page. In order to give folks ample time to try out a new recipe or to get around to sending a link, I will be posting the roundup on Mondays. This will give everyone a whole weekend. So, look for the VRC: Italian roundup on Monday, March 6.
Tags:VRC, VRC:Mardi Gras
Sunday in the Kitchen
Wow, there's a lot going on here today. I will post the VRC roundup separately.
DH took over dinner duty tonight and created a venison chili. The venison was given to us by a friend of the family. DH does not hunt and we've never cooked with venision before. I have to admit that I was a little squeamish about trying it - it's just a mental thing - nothing wrong with eating deer meat and I have enjoyed a buffalo burger in the past, but I got sqeamish enough about meat at one point to stop eating it for 9 years or so and that old feeling still comes out occasionally, especially when trying a new meat.
Although I said I should normally stay out of it when DH cooks and not interfere, but since we have never cooked with venison, I thought I should do a little research and find something to give us some ideas. I searched the Internet and came upon this recipe from Bobby Flay over at Food Network. While it looked quite tasty, I think it called for INSANE amounts of heat and spices. Three jalapenos, 2 tablespoons of cayenne, 2 tablespoons of chipotle powder, and 1 whole can of chipotle chilis. All of that for a dish that serves 6-8! I truly think that if we followed the recipe exactly, it would have been utterly inedible. We scaled back the heat quite a bit, but used the recipe as a rough guide (one cup of oil was completely unecessary too).
Overall it was quite good. Our chili came out nicely spicy - it could easily have taken a little more heat without being overly spicy, but again, with the boys eating it, it's always better to err on the side of a bit milder than overly hot. I tried to eat it with an open mind and although the venison really wasn't gamey as I expected, I still had a hard time getting enthusiastic about it and loaded up on the brown rice, salad and chili veggies, with only two pieces of deer meat. The boys dug in with enthusiasm - fortunately they do not seem to have inherited my meat phobias.
I had wanted to make muffins, granola bars and marinara sauce today, but that was a little overly ambitious if I was to get any other household chores done. Darn chores, they just get in the way of my fun. The muffins did get done, but they are still in the oven as I type this, so I'll post about them tomorrow.
Along with the cooking chatter, I'd like to present my contribution to Sweetnicks WDB #23 (if I have the count correct). For this one I'm delving into the archives for an old favorite. This is a photo of Bailey at about 6 months, engaging in one of his many goofy behaviors.
That's it for today.
Stay tuned this week as I continue to cook from the freezer and pantry. I did pretty well last week - the only thing that didn't materialize was the Vodka Sauce. That will probably have to wait until next week since I'll be using my marinara sauce as the base and it needs 6 hours of cooking.
My ideas for this week are as follows:
DH took over dinner duty tonight and created a venison chili. The venison was given to us by a friend of the family. DH does not hunt and we've never cooked with venision before. I have to admit that I was a little squeamish about trying it - it's just a mental thing - nothing wrong with eating deer meat and I have enjoyed a buffalo burger in the past, but I got sqeamish enough about meat at one point to stop eating it for 9 years or so and that old feeling still comes out occasionally, especially when trying a new meat.
Although I said I should normally stay out of it when DH cooks and not interfere, but since we have never cooked with venison, I thought I should do a little research and find something to give us some ideas. I searched the Internet and came upon this recipe from Bobby Flay over at Food Network. While it looked quite tasty, I think it called for INSANE amounts of heat and spices. Three jalapenos, 2 tablespoons of cayenne, 2 tablespoons of chipotle powder, and 1 whole can of chipotle chilis. All of that for a dish that serves 6-8! I truly think that if we followed the recipe exactly, it would have been utterly inedible. We scaled back the heat quite a bit, but used the recipe as a rough guide (one cup of oil was completely unecessary too).
Overall it was quite good. Our chili came out nicely spicy - it could easily have taken a little more heat without being overly spicy, but again, with the boys eating it, it's always better to err on the side of a bit milder than overly hot. I tried to eat it with an open mind and although the venison really wasn't gamey as I expected, I still had a hard time getting enthusiastic about it and loaded up on the brown rice, salad and chili veggies, with only two pieces of deer meat. The boys dug in with enthusiasm - fortunately they do not seem to have inherited my meat phobias.
I had wanted to make muffins, granola bars and marinara sauce today, but that was a little overly ambitious if I was to get any other household chores done. Darn chores, they just get in the way of my fun. The muffins did get done, but they are still in the oven as I type this, so I'll post about them tomorrow.
Along with the cooking chatter, I'd like to present my contribution to Sweetnicks WDB #23 (if I have the count correct). For this one I'm delving into the archives for an old favorite. This is a photo of Bailey at about 6 months, engaging in one of his many goofy behaviors.
That's it for today.
Stay tuned this week as I continue to cook from the freezer and pantry. I did pretty well last week - the only thing that didn't materialize was the Vodka Sauce. That will probably have to wait until next week since I'll be using my marinara sauce as the base and it needs 6 hours of cooking.
My ideas for this week are as follows:
Venison Chili(one package of venison gone, 4 to go) + saladMushroom Stroganoff(utilizing the whole wheat blend egg noodles) + asparagusRed Snapper in Coconut Curry Sauce(using the two smallish pieces of snapper we have in the freezer along with the can of coconut milk in the pantry) + veggie???- Roast Chicken + stuffing + green beans
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Blondie Recipe
A little late posting - we got a last-minute invite to a friend's house, so this post is quite late and I'm headed for bed, so I'll keep it short.
I've tried a few Blondie recipes, but I kept thinking that Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars would really make awesome Blondies. I finally tried them today and they turned out very well. A nice butterscotch/toffee taste and a great texture - moist and chewy.
I took half of them to my friends house which was not a popular decision with the boys, my husband included, but it's probably a good thing for me since I'm trying to lose weight!
Tags: dessert, bars, cookies, blondies
I've tried a few Blondie recipes, but I kept thinking that Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars would really make awesome Blondies. I finally tried them today and they turned out very well. A nice butterscotch/toffee taste and a great texture - moist and chewy.
I took half of them to my friends house which was not a popular decision with the boys, my husband included, but it's probably a good thing for me since I'm trying to lose weight!
Tags: dessert, bars, cookies, blondies
Template Changes......Again
I got on the computer to get a head start on some blogging and started playing around with the template again. Although the other look was kind of soothing, it also seemed washed out and boring. It would be nice to come up with something I really like and stick with it, but it's also fun to play around.
Please let me know if you see any problems with this new template. When I view it on one computer with IE at 1024 x 768 resolution, the sidebar does not line up. On that same computer in Firefox, it looks fine. On my better monitor it looks fine with IE at all resolutions, including the 1024 x 768. I don't get it. This is by far the most popular resolution for those who view my blog, so I want to make sure it looks okay for most of you out there. Feel free to leave a comment on this post if you see any flaws.
Stay tuned for much more to come this weekend. Tonight I'll have a post about a new blondie recipe I tried. I'll also be cooking up my entry for this week's VRC: Mardi Gras, but I won't post that until the roundup tomorrow. There are only 2 of us so far, but it's not too late - you have until later on tomorrow night to send in your link.
Until later tonight......
Please let me know if you see any problems with this new template. When I view it on one computer with IE at 1024 x 768 resolution, the sidebar does not line up. On that same computer in Firefox, it looks fine. On my better monitor it looks fine with IE at all resolutions, including the 1024 x 768. I don't get it. This is by far the most popular resolution for those who view my blog, so I want to make sure it looks okay for most of you out there. Feel free to leave a comment on this post if you see any flaws.
Stay tuned for much more to come this weekend. Tonight I'll have a post about a new blondie recipe I tried. I'll also be cooking up my entry for this week's VRC: Mardi Gras, but I won't post that until the roundup tomorrow. There are only 2 of us so far, but it's not too late - you have until later on tomorrow night to send in your link.
Until later tonight......
Thursday, February 23, 2006
VRC Reminder
Think New Orleans. Think spice & heat. Think gumbo, creole, jambalaya, muffuletta, and beignets. Think purple, yellow and green. Get into the spirit that is Mardi Gras......
Just a quick reminder that this Sunday is VRC: Mardi Gras. I can't wait to cook, eat and blog about my recipe. It is one of the best recipes I've ever made.
If you're new here or need a refresher, check out this link to learn more about VRC.
I have yet to receive any links, but I hope that they will start coming in. Just email me your link and I'll post it here sometime Sunday night. And remember, you don't have to have a blog to join in - I'd be happy to create a post for you here on my blog.
Stay tuned - I will be adding health and fitness items to the sidebar - just below "Foodie Finds". I've contemplated a separate blog, but that seems like more time than I can devote at this point, so for now, I'll keep it all on one blog.
Laissez les bons temps roulez................
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Wednesday Weigh-In
Why Wednesday? Because I'm most likely to indulge on the weekends and hate to weigh myself on Mondays, that's why.
Weigh-in is also a literal and not-so-literal term here. I will physically get on the scale and weigh myself each Wednesday morning (first thing in the moring, naked, after peeing, of course), but I will also talk about fitness, nutrition, anything related to healthful living here on my blog. I'll be posting more than once a week - once on Wednesday and then again over the weekend and we'll see how that goes. On Wednesdays I'll talk about my accomplishments and missteps over the past week and on the weekends I'll try to talk more about approaches and tools for a more healthful lifestyle.
My goals, and these are always my goals whether or not I need to lose weight, are to eat right and to exercise regularly. Of course that's a very simplified version of my goals, but that about sums it up. I feel that my diet at this point is pretty good - I get a good variety of whole grains and vegetables on most days. My problem is my sweet tooth and simply eating too much. Along with trying to eat less, I definitely need to exercise more. I used to get in 4-5 workouts a week on a fairly regular basis and that's just not happening anymore. I need to make it happen again.
I'll start simple this week.
Exercise: 4 days of cardio, 3 days of strength training
Diet: Eat fewer sweets
As incentive, I am posting this cute little progress tracker that I found at Ticker Factory. Just a little motivational tool - I'm big on those. Let's see that baby move on down the slide-rule....
Join me!
If you would care to join me, just send me a link by each Wednesday evening and I'll be happy to post a link to your blog here. Again, don't feel you have to literally step on the scale - you can write about anything health and fitness oriented. Perhaps your goals are not weight-related at all, maybe you just want to eat a more heathful diet or change up your workout routine. Great! Join in - write about your goals, accomplishments and areas that need work!
The only requirements I put on including you in my Weigh-In Wednesday posts is that it be a healthy approach to fitness and nutrition. No crash diets (or crazy diets like grapefruit-only), no diet pills, and preferably no surgery (only because I don't know enough to feel comfortable discussing surgery - that's a whole other realm and deserves its own forum).
Live well!
Tags: health, fitness, diet, weight loss
Weigh-in is also a literal and not-so-literal term here. I will physically get on the scale and weigh myself each Wednesday morning (first thing in the moring, naked, after peeing, of course), but I will also talk about fitness, nutrition, anything related to healthful living here on my blog. I'll be posting more than once a week - once on Wednesday and then again over the weekend and we'll see how that goes. On Wednesdays I'll talk about my accomplishments and missteps over the past week and on the weekends I'll try to talk more about approaches and tools for a more healthful lifestyle.
My Goals
My goals, and these are always my goals whether or not I need to lose weight, are to eat right and to exercise regularly. Of course that's a very simplified version of my goals, but that about sums it up. I feel that my diet at this point is pretty good - I get a good variety of whole grains and vegetables on most days. My problem is my sweet tooth and simply eating too much. Along with trying to eat less, I definitely need to exercise more. I used to get in 4-5 workouts a week on a fairly regular basis and that's just not happening anymore. I need to make it happen again.
I'll start simple this week.
Exercise: 4 days of cardio, 3 days of strength training
Diet: Eat fewer sweets
As incentive, I am posting this cute little progress tracker that I found at Ticker Factory. Just a little motivational tool - I'm big on those. Let's see that baby move on down the slide-rule....
Join me!
If you would care to join me, just send me a link by each Wednesday evening and I'll be happy to post a link to your blog here. Again, don't feel you have to literally step on the scale - you can write about anything health and fitness oriented. Perhaps your goals are not weight-related at all, maybe you just want to eat a more heathful diet or change up your workout routine. Great! Join in - write about your goals, accomplishments and areas that need work!
The only requirements I put on including you in my Weigh-In Wednesday posts is that it be a healthy approach to fitness and nutrition. No crash diets (or crazy diets like grapefruit-only), no diet pills, and preferably no surgery (only because I don't know enough to feel comfortable discussing surgery - that's a whole other realm and deserves its own forum).
Live well!
Tags: health, fitness, diet, weight loss
Another Veggie Success!
Oh, it so warms my heart to see my kids eat vegetables, not only without complaint, but with enthusiasm. My youngest said he even liked the zucchini - now that's saying something!
Tonight's dinner was the Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder recipe that someone posted over on the Cooking Light Bulletin Board. I knew the instant I saw the recipe that I would have to try it. It came out even better than I expected.
If you are trying to eat healthier, don't let the name scare you off. While I don't think this is necessarily a low-fat recipe, it has very reasonable amounts of fat - just enough to give the soup flavor and a hint of richness. Nice, rich flavor without being heavy - perfect. Everyone agreed that it is a pretty soup too - DS said it reminded him of confetti.
I made only a few changes to the recipe. I used corn instead of peas (that's just what I happened to need to use up) and while I wouldn't necessarily skip the peas, I would definitely put corn in again - it was perfect in this soup. I also added a sprinkling of red pepper flakes for some zip, something I would repeat as well.
This would be an easy soup to whip up without having to run to the grocery store first. It's made up of ingredients that many cooks tend to keep on hand. It's also very versatile - you could throw in any vegetables you like (soups are a great way to use up a small portions of leftover vegetables) and it would also be good with a variety of cheeses, though I wouldn't skip the cream cheese - I suspect that's what helps it taste rich without using too much fat.
Either I'm just hitting on the right recipes lately or my kids are finally becoming much more open to the world of vegetables. Or maybe a little of both.....either way, I'm happy!
Tags: recipes, vegetarian, soup, vegetables
Tonight's dinner was the Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder recipe that someone posted over on the Cooking Light Bulletin Board. I knew the instant I saw the recipe that I would have to try it. It came out even better than I expected.
If you are trying to eat healthier, don't let the name scare you off. While I don't think this is necessarily a low-fat recipe, it has very reasonable amounts of fat - just enough to give the soup flavor and a hint of richness. Nice, rich flavor without being heavy - perfect. Everyone agreed that it is a pretty soup too - DS said it reminded him of confetti.
I made only a few changes to the recipe. I used corn instead of peas (that's just what I happened to need to use up) and while I wouldn't necessarily skip the peas, I would definitely put corn in again - it was perfect in this soup. I also added a sprinkling of red pepper flakes for some zip, something I would repeat as well.
This would be an easy soup to whip up without having to run to the grocery store first. It's made up of ingredients that many cooks tend to keep on hand. It's also very versatile - you could throw in any vegetables you like (soups are a great way to use up a small portions of leftover vegetables) and it would also be good with a variety of cheeses, though I wouldn't skip the cream cheese - I suspect that's what helps it taste rich without using too much fat.
Either I'm just hitting on the right recipes lately or my kids are finally becoming much more open to the world of vegetables. Or maybe a little of both.....either way, I'm happy!
Tags: recipes, vegetarian, soup, vegetables
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
What's for Dinner? (2/21/06)
Photo from Cooking LightI have a large bag of tilapia filets in the freezer (frozen is the norm for seafood in the Midwest, unless you live near a larger city or want to pay through the nose) and as much as I'd love to be able to have fresh seafood, I have to say I rather like these portion-sized filets that you can just pull out and thaw quickly. As long as they package it really well and each filet is vacuum-packed, the fish keeps quite nicely. Or is it just that I've been away from really fresh seafood for too long. This dish turned out great - everyone loved it, so it's definitely a repeater for us.
Tags: recipes, main dish, Cooking Light, low-fat, fish, tilapia
Monday, February 20, 2006
Freezer Inventory, Soup and Baking
Due to the budgetary constraints I mentioned on an earlier post, we will be concentrating on cooking from the pantry and freezer to try to minimize our grocery bill. I thought the best place to start for this would be to make a little inventory list of what's in our freezer and perhaps a list of some of our pantry hightlights. My goal is to center our meals around these meats and seafood, with vegetarian meals to balance out the weekly menus - this should cut the grocery bills quite a bit.
From the looks of our freezer, we won't be living too badly! And now that I've taken at least a partial inventory, this seems like a good thing to do on a regular basis, budgetary constraints or no.
In our freezer we have:
2+ pounds shrimp
1.5 pounds chicken thighs
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 1-lb. pork tenderloins
1 2-lb. pork loin
48 ounces of tilapia filets
12 ounces sole filets
2 salmon filets
2 snapper filets
1 whole roaster chicken
2 Hawaiian brats (leftover from summer grilling)
andouille sausage
various cuts of deer meat (that's DH's job - I have no experience with deer meat and not much desire to fix it either)
Other things around the pantry/kitchen to keep in mind:
1 1/2 bags of fresh cranberries
4 cans of minced clams
coconut milk
large jar of capers
lots and lots of kalamata olives
whole wheat blend egg noodles
whole wheat couscous
lentils
barley
rice - white, jasmine, sushi, wild, arborio, whole grain blend, brown
panko bread crumbs
nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts
......and the usual array of beans, stocks, and tomatoes......
Here is what I have come up with so far for this week.
*Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
*Pecan-Crusted Tilapia
*Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder
*Something for Mardi Gras - can't reveal it just yet......
* Vodka Sauce
Of course my dinner plans change constantly, but I still like to have a basic plan in place to avoid too many unnecessary trips to the store. Based on this menu, I will need very few ingredients from the store for the recipes themselves - most of what I will need is vegetables for sides.
DH took over the kitchen for breakfast and dinner today. He whipped up some pancakes and an omelet for breakfast and it was his idea to make the Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I've pretty much dominated the cooking for many years here, and as strange (hard, even) as it is to hand over the reigns, it's certainly nice to have a break AND still have a homecooked meal put on the table. I'll definitely have to encourage DH to do this more often. It's best if I stay out of the kitchen when he cooks though, lest I try to give him too much "help".
DH took over the savory cooking for the day, but I did some sweet cooking of my own. Last night I made up a batch of Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, but this time with fresh cranberries and walnuts. Very good.
Today I made a new recipe, something I've been wanting to try for a long time - granola bars. This recipe came out a bit like a bar cookie, but not as sweet. We really enjoyed them. I'm looking for healthier things to keep around the house to satisfy my sweet tooth. These are not low-fat by any means, but they are made with oil instead of butter which helps cut back on the saturated fat, and they also have whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and almonds for added nutrition.
DS#1 even got in on the baking action and whipped up some Toll House Cookie Bars for school on Friday. They have mini-economies in the classroom and occasionally they set up a market with vendors. DH always chooses to be a vendor, and this time the theme was "Lovin' from the Oven". We'll throw these in the freezer and he'll be all set!
That's it for today. It was nice to have the day off from school, but tomorrow it's back to the real world. Too bad, I'd be just as happy to stay home and cook all day...... :)
Tags: recipes , baking , cookies , granola bars
From the looks of our freezer, we won't be living too badly! And now that I've taken at least a partial inventory, this seems like a good thing to do on a regular basis, budgetary constraints or no.
In our freezer we have:
2+ pounds shrimp
1.5 pounds chicken thighs
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 1-lb. pork tenderloins
1 2-lb. pork loin
48 ounces of tilapia filets
12 ounces sole filets
2 salmon filets
2 snapper filets
1 whole roaster chicken
2 Hawaiian brats (leftover from summer grilling)
andouille sausage
various cuts of deer meat (that's DH's job - I have no experience with deer meat and not much desire to fix it either)
Other things around the pantry/kitchen to keep in mind:
1 1/2 bags of fresh cranberries
4 cans of minced clams
coconut milk
large jar of capers
lots and lots of kalamata olives
whole wheat blend egg noodles
whole wheat couscous
lentils
barley
rice - white, jasmine, sushi, wild, arborio, whole grain blend, brown
panko bread crumbs
nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts
......and the usual array of beans, stocks, and tomatoes......
Here is what I have come up with so far for this week.
*
*
*
*
* Vodka Sauce
Of course my dinner plans change constantly, but I still like to have a basic plan in place to avoid too many unnecessary trips to the store. Based on this menu, I will need very few ingredients from the store for the recipes themselves - most of what I will need is vegetables for sides.
DH took over the kitchen for breakfast and dinner today. He whipped up some pancakes and an omelet for breakfast and it was his idea to make the Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I've pretty much dominated the cooking for many years here, and as strange (hard, even) as it is to hand over the reigns, it's certainly nice to have a break AND still have a homecooked meal put on the table. I'll definitely have to encourage DH to do this more often. It's best if I stay out of the kitchen when he cooks though, lest I try to give him too much "help".
DH took over the savory cooking for the day, but I did some sweet cooking of my own. Last night I made up a batch of Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, but this time with fresh cranberries and walnuts. Very good.
Today I made a new recipe, something I've been wanting to try for a long time - granola bars. This recipe came out a bit like a bar cookie, but not as sweet. We really enjoyed them. I'm looking for healthier things to keep around the house to satisfy my sweet tooth. These are not low-fat by any means, but they are made with oil instead of butter which helps cut back on the saturated fat, and they also have whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and almonds for added nutrition.
That's it for today. It was nice to have the day off from school, but tomorrow it's back to the real world. Too bad, I'd be just as happy to stay home and cook all day...... :)
Tags: recipes , baking , cookies , granola bars
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Announcing VRC: Mardi Gras!
Mistretta 2006 Mardi Gras PosterMy husband and I had the privilege to visit New Orleans at least 3 times in the 1990's, long before Katrina came throught and laid waste to such a wonderful and vibrant city. While we never attended Mardi Gras itself (too many people and too much nakedness for us), we did fall in love with free-spirited, party atmosphere of that beautiful city.
The past few years, we have hosted a Mardi Gras party in our home - it's a festive and cheerful way to chase away the winter blues and a great excuse to whomp up some delicious Cajun-inspired food. This year, due to budgetery contraints and other circumstances beyond our control, we may not be able to host our annual party, but at the very least, we will be cooking a small Mardi Gras feast for ourselves. And we can have a virtual party here with a VRC: Mardi Gras roundup next weekend. Fun!
I hope you will join us. Let's help keep the Mardi Gras spirit alive. So start cooking or just send me a link to one of your favorite Cajun or New Orleans-inspired recipes. If you have any fond memories of New Orleans, please feel free to write about them in your posting. Send me a link (please use my email address found on my main page) by Sunday, February 26th and I will post the roundup later that night.
If you are familiar with Technoriat Tags or are willing to try them out, please insert the following links into your VRC posting next week: VRC:Mardi Gras and/or VRC .
If you are unsure how to do this, feel free to email me and I will help you out. Using these tags is just another way to get the word out - it's also a nice way to click on one link and see what else is out there in blogger land.
In light of what has happened to the people of New Orleans, I am posting links to several organizations who are still collecting donations to help the people of New Orleans who continue to struggle.
Dinner, VRC: Potatoes and WDB #22
We finally had our "Valentine's Day" meal last night. As I've said before, we don't necessarily buy into the whole Valentine's Day schlock, but at the same time, we are never one to pass up an excuse for a good meal. The budget is tight, so instead of splurging at our favorite restaurant, we had a nice fondue meal with the boys. We were also able to splurge with a nice bottle of Moet White Star that we picked up back before New Year's for just $22 (normally it runs $35-$40).
Garlicky Sauteed Spinach
There are so many wonderful ways to cook potatoes - from gratins to mashed to grilled - but one of our favorite ways is to roast them. If you roast them at a high heat, they not only cook pretty quickly, making them great for those hurried weeknight meals, but they also get nice and crispy outside, while remaining soft inside. Even easier, you can dress the potaotes up anyway you like - anything goes. We like to do olive oil, salt, pepper, usually minced garlic and sometimes a spice or seasoning blend with a kick. Last night we chose olive oil, salt, pepper, and Old Bay Seasoning.
And last, but not least, Bailey would like to wish Sweetnicks a speedy recovery. For those of you who missed it, Sweetnicks has been in the hospital to have her gall bladder removed. Bailey says he would love to bring Sweetnicks the paper in bed and give her extra loving, but he's sure that Eli has things under control. Head on over to Something So Clever where Alicat is taking over the roundup this weekend while Sweetnicks recovers. Hope you're back soon, Sweetnicks!
Tags: spinach , potatoes , WDB , VRC , VRC:Potatoes
Garlicky Sauteed SpinachAlong with the fondue, we served sauteed spinach and roasted potatoes. The roasted potatoes are also my entry for this week's VRC round-up, being hosted by Biscuit Girl at You Gonna Eat All That?
There are so many wonderful ways to cook potatoes - from gratins to mashed to grilled - but one of our favorite ways is to roast them. If you roast them at a high heat, they not only cook pretty quickly, making them great for those hurried weeknight meals, but they also get nice and crispy outside, while remaining soft inside. Even easier, you can dress the potaotes up anyway you like - anything goes. We like to do olive oil, salt, pepper, usually minced garlic and sometimes a spice or seasoning blend with a kick. Last night we chose olive oil, salt, pepper, and Old Bay Seasoning.
And last, but not least, Bailey would like to wish Sweetnicks a speedy recovery. For those of you who missed it, Sweetnicks has been in the hospital to have her gall bladder removed. Bailey says he would love to bring Sweetnicks the paper in bed and give her extra loving, but he's sure that Eli has things under control. Head on over to Something So Clever where Alicat is taking over the roundup this weekend while Sweetnicks recovers. Hope you're back soon, Sweetnicks!
Tags: spinach , potatoes , WDB , VRC , VRC:Potatoes
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Recipe Collection Meme
Felicia over at The Web Sorceress Cooks has tagged me for a new meme she's created. So here goes.....
Recipe Collection Meme
rec*i*pe - a set of instructions for making something from various ingredients
1. Where do you obtain the recipes you prepare?
I get my recipes from many, many sources. I would say my biggest source is the internet. Between Cooking Light, the Cooking Light Bulletin Board, Epicurious and Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, I have more recipes available to me than I'll ever be able to try in a lifetime. I think I may be one of the very few foodies who does not collect cookbooks. Not that I don't have any - I do - but I'm usually too fickle to commit to buying them.
2. How often do you cook a new recipe?
This can vary quite a bit depending on my mood. Lately I've been trying one or more new recipes each week, but there are times when I get too busy and rely on old standbys. I like to cook both ways - with a recipe or by winging it.
3. How do you store your favorite recipes?
My favorite recipes are stored in Mastercook and/or on my blog. I have definitely fallen behind on getting my recipes onto Mastercook now that I've been blogging. Sounds like a good winter project - updating Mastercook!
4. How large is your to-try pile? Is it organized? How?
What is not saved on Mastercook or various online cookbooks (I have recipes stored on Epicurious, Food Network, and Cooking Light), I store in a 3-ring binder. Most of them are organized into categories, but the pile waiting to be filed is growing quite large. See above regarding good winter projects...
5. What is the oldest recipe in your to-try pile?
Oh gosh - I have no idea. I have recipes I know have been there for at least 8 years, probably longer.
6. Are you really ever going to make all those recipes in your to-try pile?
No. Which inevitably invites the question - why hold onto them? Because. I might want to make it some day. You never know.
7. Do you follow a recipe exactly, modify as you go, or 'What Recipe?' I invent new recipes every time I cook.
I like to do all of the above. If I'm making something entirely new and unfamiliar, I will follow a recipe and perhaps not do much modifying. However, it's pretty rare that I don't modify as least something in a recipe - a little more of this, a little less of that and NONE of that, thank you. I have become comfortable enough with cooking that I do a lot more winging-it or cooking without a recipe. It's fun and challenging!
8. What is one new recipe that you're scared to try?
Anything involving candy. I can't make candy to save my life. I tried brittle once and ended up with a brick of crystallized sugar. What a waste of some prefectly lovely almonds!
And I'm tagging:
*Tag at least one new food blogger for this meme: Exploring the Silver Spoon
*Tag at least one food blogger you visit regularly but never interacted with: Dessert Comes First (at least I don't remember interacting.....it's hard to keep track!)
*Tag at least one food blogger you constantly visit and leave comments: Culinary in the Desert
*Tag anyone else you want: A Veggie Venture
meme
Recipe Collection Meme
rec*i*pe - a set of instructions for making something from various ingredients
1. Where do you obtain the recipes you prepare?
I get my recipes from many, many sources. I would say my biggest source is the internet. Between Cooking Light, the Cooking Light Bulletin Board, Epicurious and Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, I have more recipes available to me than I'll ever be able to try in a lifetime. I think I may be one of the very few foodies who does not collect cookbooks. Not that I don't have any - I do - but I'm usually too fickle to commit to buying them.
2. How often do you cook a new recipe?
This can vary quite a bit depending on my mood. Lately I've been trying one or more new recipes each week, but there are times when I get too busy and rely on old standbys. I like to cook both ways - with a recipe or by winging it.
3. How do you store your favorite recipes?
My favorite recipes are stored in Mastercook and/or on my blog. I have definitely fallen behind on getting my recipes onto Mastercook now that I've been blogging. Sounds like a good winter project - updating Mastercook!
4. How large is your to-try pile? Is it organized? How?
What is not saved on Mastercook or various online cookbooks (I have recipes stored on Epicurious, Food Network, and Cooking Light), I store in a 3-ring binder. Most of them are organized into categories, but the pile waiting to be filed is growing quite large. See above regarding good winter projects...
5. What is the oldest recipe in your to-try pile?
Oh gosh - I have no idea. I have recipes I know have been there for at least 8 years, probably longer.
6. Are you really ever going to make all those recipes in your to-try pile?
No. Which inevitably invites the question - why hold onto them? Because. I might want to make it some day. You never know.
7. Do you follow a recipe exactly, modify as you go, or 'What Recipe?' I invent new recipes every time I cook.
I like to do all of the above. If I'm making something entirely new and unfamiliar, I will follow a recipe and perhaps not do much modifying. However, it's pretty rare that I don't modify as least something in a recipe - a little more of this, a little less of that and NONE of that, thank you. I have become comfortable enough with cooking that I do a lot more winging-it or cooking without a recipe. It's fun and challenging!
8. What is one new recipe that you're scared to try?
Anything involving candy. I can't make candy to save my life. I tried brittle once and ended up with a brick of crystallized sugar. What a waste of some prefectly lovely almonds!
And I'm tagging:
*Tag at least one new food blogger for this meme: Exploring the Silver Spoon
*Tag at least one food blogger you visit regularly but never interacted with: Dessert Comes First (at least I don't remember interacting.....it's hard to keep track!)
*Tag at least one food blogger you constantly visit and leave comments: Culinary in the Desert
*Tag anyone else you want: A Veggie Venture
meme
Thursday, February 16, 2006
What's for Dinner? (2/16/06)
I did not feel like cooking tonight, but I scraped myself up off the couch and did it anyway. I'm always glad when I fight the urge to be lazy, but sometimes it's hard!
We tried two new recipes tonight. The first - Cajun Quiche in a Rice Crust - is from Cooking Light. It was okay - not something that I'd go out of my way to make again, but it was an interesting idea. It was one of those recipes that leaves itself wide open for modification and would be good for using up a little of this and a little of that - something I might try if I had some leftover rice that I wanted to use up.
Photo from Cooking Light
Our side dish was also new to us - not only the dish, but also the main ingredient - collard greens. My family, with the exception of me, is pretty lukewarm on the whole concept of cooked greens. I don't let that stop me, but it definitely slows me down. I liked them quite a bit, DH and DS#1 liked them okay and DS#3 barely tolerated them. Not altogether a failure for this house - sometimes mere toleration is all I can hope for!
We tried two new recipes tonight. The first - Cajun Quiche in a Rice Crust - is from Cooking Light. It was okay - not something that I'd go out of my way to make again, but it was an interesting idea. It was one of those recipes that leaves itself wide open for modification and would be good for using up a little of this and a little of that - something I might try if I had some leftover rice that I wanted to use up.
Photo from Cooking LightOur side dish was also new to us - not only the dish, but also the main ingredient - collard greens. My family, with the exception of me, is pretty lukewarm on the whole concept of cooked greens. I don't let that stop me, but it definitely slows me down. I liked them quite a bit, DH and DS#1 liked them okay and DS#3 barely tolerated them. Not altogether a failure for this house - sometimes mere toleration is all I can hope for!
Sauteed Collard Greens
Another reiminder that VRC: Potatoes is coming up this Sunday over at You Gonna Eat All That?. I am also going to give out a hint (hopefully not too easy) about next week's theme. Hint: Laissez les bons temps roulez.
recipes : main dishes : side dishes : quiche : collard greens
recipes : main dishes : side dishes : quiche : collard greens
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Virtual Recipe Club Reminder!
Reminder "VRC: Potatoes" is coming up
Sunday, February 19th
Hey, you all are making Biscuit Girl over at You Gonna Eat All That? a bit nervous. She hasn't received any recipes yet and the weekend is fast approaching. Just a reminder that this week's theme is POTATOES. You can email Biscuit girl at biscuitblog AT earthlink DOT net or you can go to her blog and leave a comment. I love the Mr. Potato Head, Biscuit Girl! :)
I promise I'll have a recipe too! Remember - you don't have to actually cook the recipe this week, just share your favorite potato recipe and a photo if you have one. Hope you'll join in!
Virtual Recipe Club : VRC : PotatoesTuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy February 14th!
I don't count myself among those who despise Valentine's Day, but I do count myself among those who regard it suspiciously - a Hallmark holiday designed to entice people to part with their money. That said, I am all in favor of any excuse to make a special meal or to drink champagne. We usually never go out to eat on Valentine's Day itself, though we have been known to go out near Valentine's Day. That's because so many restaurants are not only way too over-crowded, but because they often have "special" menus which, to us, only means we can't order what we really want.
We are waiting until Saturday for our special meal, but tonight we did pop open a bottle of champagne and had some delicious homemade linguine with white clam sauce. We conveniently had two bottles leftover from New Year's and decided to open one tonight and save one for Saturday.
It's late and it's time for bed, so I'm keeping it short and sweet. Hope you all had a nice February 14th, no matter what your feelings on Valentine's Day.
recipes : main dishes : white clam sauce : pasta : clams
We are waiting until Saturday for our special meal, but tonight we did pop open a bottle of champagne and had some delicious homemade linguine with white clam sauce. We conveniently had two bottles leftover from New Year's and decided to open one tonight and save one for Saturday.
It's late and it's time for bed, so I'm keeping it short and sweet. Hope you all had a nice February 14th, no matter what your feelings on Valentine's Day.
recipes : main dishes : white clam sauce : pasta : clams
Monday, February 13, 2006
Coming "out of the diet closet"?
The other night I was browsing around over at Food Blog S'Cool and noticed this post by McAuliflower of Brownie Points. For those who don't actually click on the link, she commented that "I've been chewing on the concept of food blog identities and dieting. I've loved watching blogs come out from the dieting closet and disclose their issues and processes in their posts. Its a good reminder of food loving realities, a revealation of quandries that many of us may already silently be going through. I'm a bit ashamed to admit I've been holding back such revelations myself."
I too have been playing around with whether or not to broach this subject on my blog. It's a very personal subject and surely there are many who could not care less, but then again, there are many who could not care less what brownies I made the other night or what wine we drank and that hasn't stopped me, now has it?
Weight is something I have struggled with since turning 28, or thereabouts (I will turn 40 this year). It was right about that time that my metabolism slowed down big time and I stayed in pretty deep denial about it until after the birth of my first son. Of course pregnancy and birth only made things worse and I "suddenly" found myself 30 pounds overweight. That may not sound like much, but at 5'1" with a small frame, that's quite a bit of weight. My journey back to better fitness started when I saw a picture of myself and realized I didn't recognize that person.
I don't know if I buy into all the theories (like on Oprah) that there must be some deep-seated psychological issue that causes me to overeat. While I think that is true for many, I don't know if it has to be true for all. I think, for me, it's really quite stunningly simple. I eat too much and exercise too little. I do have issues with eating too much, but not because I'm trying to bury some unspeakable pain, but because it just plain tastes good and I want more of it.
An Oprah show did cause me to have a big lightbulb moment, even if I don't subscribe to all the psychological issues she mixes in with being overweight. She said something along these lines - we would not be fat unless there is some kind of payoff. What is your payoff? Payoff, I thought, what payoff could there possibly be to being overweight and miserable? After mulling that over for a while, I realized that my own personal payoff was that I could eat whatever I wanted. I was already fat, so why not have that extra cookie or two, or three, or four? By ignoring my weight problem, I didn't have to deny myself. Again, no mysticism or deep, dark secret - pretty simple, really.
About 3 years ago or so, I started to watch what I ate, started to exercise regularly and eventually dropped the weight. I did gain some back, but as long as I kept exercising, I was able to keep most of the weight off. However, this past year I really dropped off on exercising and have gained 13 pounds or so. It's time to, at the very least, get back to regular exercise and cut back on the eating. But more on that tomorrow or another day.......
In order to help myself achieve my goals this time around, I have decided to blog about it. I will, however, keep the fitness posts separate from my other posts as much as possible so that you can easily ignore them if you wish to.
I have so much to say on this subject, so much to write about, but I'll leave it here for tonight, lest I create a novel on my first night "coming out of the closet".
Diet : Weight Loss
Sunday, February 12, 2006
VRC: Cardamom
I love the smell of cardamom. Only, I don't cook with it. Almost never. There it sits, lonely and usually unopened. But I keep it around, just in case. To encourage me to try these orphaned spices, I've decided to devote one VRC a month to a different herb or spice.
When I began to look around for recipes (check out Gourmet Sleuth for good information on cardamom), I realized I was somewhat limited because what I have on hand is dried ground cardamom, not the green pods. Wanting to use what was already in my cabinet rather than running out and buying something else, I searched for recipes using ground cardamom - it was certainly disappointing to bypass all the other wonderful-looking recipes, but I found some yummy-sounding recipes, nonetheless.
Apparently folks found this a bit limiting, because I didn't receive many entries. I contemplated leaving this up for another week, but instead, we'll go ahead with the next ingredient, but leave this one open for anyone who would like to contribute. If you make a late submission, I will make sure to point it out in a current posting.
Still, low turnout aside, I very much enjoyed cooking with cardamom and will continue to seek out recipes. In fact, I feel the need for an "Indian" themed week coming on - all of these aromas have me craving Indian food again. And my boys love it, so why not??
Joe from Culinary in the Desert submitted two recipes
Cardamom-Date Snack Cake
and
Chicken and Basmati Rice Pilau with Saffron, Spinach and Cardamom
My heart goes out to Jill over at Glossy Veneer. Her cooking plan were put on hold while they fought a flood in the middle of the desert. I assured her that she would be included. I can't wait to hear how they turn out once she's able to get back in the kitchen.
Mmmm...I drink Chai each and every morning, so I was excited about
the entry from Sailu's Food
Elachi Chai
And finally from my own kitchen, 2 recipes:
Currant and Cardamom Oatmeal Cookies
and
Harira with Roasted Onion
Virtual Recipe Club : VRC: Cardamom : cardamom : recipes
When I began to look around for recipes (check out Gourmet Sleuth for good information on cardamom), I realized I was somewhat limited because what I have on hand is dried ground cardamom, not the green pods. Wanting to use what was already in my cabinet rather than running out and buying something else, I searched for recipes using ground cardamom - it was certainly disappointing to bypass all the other wonderful-looking recipes, but I found some yummy-sounding recipes, nonetheless.
Apparently folks found this a bit limiting, because I didn't receive many entries. I contemplated leaving this up for another week, but instead, we'll go ahead with the next ingredient, but leave this one open for anyone who would like to contribute. If you make a late submission, I will make sure to point it out in a current posting.
Still, low turnout aside, I very much enjoyed cooking with cardamom and will continue to seek out recipes. In fact, I feel the need for an "Indian" themed week coming on - all of these aromas have me craving Indian food again. And my boys love it, so why not??
Joe from Culinary in the Desert submitted two recipes
Cardamom-Date Snack Cakeand
Chicken and Basmati Rice Pilau with Saffron, Spinach and CardamomMy heart goes out to Jill over at Glossy Veneer. Her cooking plan were put on hold while they fought a flood in the middle of the desert. I assured her that she would be included. I can't wait to hear how they turn out once she's able to get back in the kitchen.
Mmmm...I drink Chai each and every morning, so I was excited about
the entry from Sailu's Food
Elachi ChaiAnd finally from my own kitchen, 2 recipes:
Currant and Cardamom Oatmeal Cookiesand
Harira with Roasted Onion
That's it for VRC: Cardamom, but feel free to continue to submit entries.
And now, to announce next week's ingredient AND hostess. That's right, Biscuit Girl over at You Gonna Eat All That? has graciously offered to be my first guest hostess. As guest hostess, you post the round-up on your own blog and, even better, you get to pick the ingredient. Biscuit Girl has chosen potatoes. Mmmmmm....with all of this wintery weather upon us, I'm envisioning a nice gratin, but the possibilities are endless. I love potatoes and can't wait to see the entries for this one. I expect this user-friendly ingredient might draw lots of participants, much like the soups and stews. So, submit your potato recipes to Biscuit Girl and hop on over to her blog next Sunday to check out the inevitably delicious round-up.
Announcing VRC: Potatoes (2/19/06)
And now, to announce next week's ingredient AND hostess. That's right, Biscuit Girl over at You Gonna Eat All That? has graciously offered to be my first guest hostess. As guest hostess, you post the round-up on your own blog and, even better, you get to pick the ingredient. Biscuit Girl has chosen potatoes. Mmmmmm....with all of this wintery weather upon us, I'm envisioning a nice gratin, but the possibilities are endless. I love potatoes and can't wait to see the entries for this one. I expect this user-friendly ingredient might draw lots of participants, much like the soups and stews. So, submit your potato recipes to Biscuit Girl and hop on over to her blog next Sunday to check out the inevitably delicious round-up.
Virtual Recipe Club : VRC: Cardamom : cardamom : recipes
Friday, February 10, 2006
Food Blog Buzz
Nothing exciting going on in the kitchen tonight, so I'm sitting at the computer with a glass of wine (husband is out of town, so I don't have to worry about being unsocial) and checking out the other blogs that I seem to have so little time to read.
I like to look at blogs by going to one blog and following a link on their site, and on and on - just a string of blogs, one after the other. The only problem is, I often have a hard time remembering where I've been or what I've said! Below are a few things that caught my eye on my "travels".
I like to look at blogs by going to one blog and following a link on their site, and on and on - just a string of blogs, one after the other. The only problem is, I often have a hard time remembering where I've been or what I've said! Below are a few things that caught my eye on my "travels".
Roasted Cauliflower and Tomato
Alanna at A Veggie Venture had some very yummy-looking cauliflower recipes on her blog this week. I have not cooked much with cauliflower, but did get good reviews from the family with this mashed cauliflower recipe. I have a head in the refrigerator and might have to make Alanna's recipe sometime soon. The recipe for Cauliflower, Pancetta and Capers is also on my "to try" list.
February usually means the onset of major winter blahs, so this photo from One Hot Stove was a very welcome and refreshing sight for winter-weary eyes.
I don't know much about the content of these sites, but here are some names that caught my eye: Holy Shiitake, Basil and Barbells, and What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway?
The "MMM...I want some of that" award goes to Maki over at I was just really, really hungry for this delicious-looking tuna dish. I love, love, love arugula too.....
Seared Tuna, Arugula and Basil Linguine
Cooking with Amy had a photo that showed lemons used in a way I'd never seen before, and if you scroll down a bit further, you'll see a model of San Francisco made out of...............jello.
The eyes are getting weary, so it's time to sign off. Stay tuned for more cooking, baking and another VRC round-up this weekend.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Chicken Florentine Casserole
Chicken Florentine CasseroleThat's what we had for dinner last night. I love this dish and I really wanted to come on and blog about it, but I was, once again, too tired. This dish really isn't a good weeknight meal - it takes a bit of time to prepare and by the time I finally put it in the oven, I didn't have any energy leftover - not even enough to prepare a salad, so I just served it with raw baby carrots.
I found this recipe in a magazine at a health club. As soon as I saw the recipe I knew I must have it and so I ripped it out. I usually don't do that sort of thing - it IS a bit rude - but it turned out even better than I thought it would, so it was worth it.
This a great comfort food dish that is still nice enough to serve to guests for dinner. It's also easy to keep the ingredients on hand which is nice if you get caught needing to make a nice dinner unexpectedly. But as I said, it's a bit labor-intensive. However, if you used frozen spinach and used leftover, cooked chicken, that would speed things up considerably. Still, it's worth the effort and it was very well-received by the whole family. It's also low-fat to boot - now that's my idea of heaven - comfort food without the guilt.
Nothing cooking tonight, but stay tuned for some more things this weekend. Don't forget, VRC: Cardamom is coming up on Sunday and we will have a guest host with a new ingredient for next week. I plan to get my ingredients for my cardamom recipes tomorrow and will hopefully have two recipes to contribute on Sunday. So far I have not received any entries. I know I picked a pretty limiting ingredient, but I hope we get at least a few brave souls willing to give it a go.
This a great comfort food dish that is still nice enough to serve to guests for dinner. It's also easy to keep the ingredients on hand which is nice if you get caught needing to make a nice dinner unexpectedly. But as I said, it's a bit labor-intensive. However, if you used frozen spinach and used leftover, cooked chicken, that would speed things up considerably. Still, it's worth the effort and it was very well-received by the whole family. It's also low-fat to boot - now that's my idea of heaven - comfort food without the guilt.
Nothing cooking tonight, but stay tuned for some more things this weekend. Don't forget, VRC: Cardamom is coming up on Sunday and we will have a guest host with a new ingredient for next week. I plan to get my ingredients for my cardamom recipes tomorrow and will hopefully have two recipes to contribute on Sunday. So far I have not received any entries. I know I picked a pretty limiting ingredient, but I hope we get at least a few brave souls willing to give it a go.
recipes : chicken : pasta : spinach : main dishes
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday
No posting last night. After work, it was a workout at the YMCA and then a science fair at the middle school until 8:30. Then it was time for 24. Once I hit the couch and cuddled under the blanket, it was all over. I was barely motivated to get up and go to bed, much less get on the computer. Dinner last night was leftovers in the freezer - A Very Veggie Soup. I love when you can pull a homemade meal out the freezer and all you have to do is push the buttons on the microwave. As much as I love to cook, you just need that sometimes.
Although I didn't make a new recipe tonight, I'm still submitting this post to Sweetnicks ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday event which is being hosted by Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness while Sweetnicks is in the Florida Keys. It's not a new recipe, but I did really well with both veggies and ARFs, so I feel the need to brag a little.
For breakfast, I had cereal with strawberries and pecans. For lunch, I really upped the veggie intake by having some of the Very Veggie Soup. For dinner, it was our favorite standby, Easy Layered Beans and Rice which had black beans in it - served 
with a side of Gala apples.
I've mentioned this dish several times before, and even on the last ARF (although that time, I think I made it with pinto beans), but in this house, we're still not bored with it. And besides, it's eezy-peezsy lemon squeezy, as my son is fond of saying - you can throw it together in no more than 20 minutes at the most. We don't get bored with it because it comes out a little different each and every time. Here's what we did this time and it was yummy:
1 cup brown rice
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 can of vegetable broth
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 small can sliced black olives
2 Al Fresco Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage links, sliced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
sprinkling of Mexican oregano, chipotle powder and freshly ground black pepper
mozarella cheese & cheddar cheese
So, that was 4 different ARFs and at least 4 different vegetables today. Not bad.
recipes : rice : beans : ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday
Although I didn't make a new recipe tonight, I'm still submitting this post to Sweetnicks ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday event which is being hosted by Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness while Sweetnicks is in the Florida Keys. It's not a new recipe, but I did really well with both veggies and ARFs, so I feel the need to brag a little.
For breakfast, I had cereal with strawberries and pecans. For lunch, I really upped the veggie intake by having some of the Very Veggie Soup. For dinner, it was our favorite standby, Easy Layered Beans and Rice which had black beans in it - served 
with a side of Gala apples.I've mentioned this dish several times before, and even on the last ARF (although that time, I think I made it with pinto beans), but in this house, we're still not bored with it. And besides, it's eezy-peezsy lemon squeezy, as my son is fond of saying - you can throw it together in no more than 20 minutes at the most. We don't get bored with it because it comes out a little different each and every time. Here's what we did this time and it was yummy:
1 cup brown rice
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 can of vegetable broth
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 small can sliced black olives
2 Al Fresco Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage links, sliced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
sprinkling of Mexican oregano, chipotle powder and freshly ground black pepper
mozarella cheese & cheddar cheese
So, that was 4 different ARFs and at least 4 different vegetables today. Not bad.
recipes : rice : beans : ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday
Sunday, February 05, 2006
VRC #2 - Soups and Stews - 2/05/06
Up to around 14 entries this time. It was so much fun to look over the entries this time - so many unusual soups - I can't wait to try some of them.
On to the recipes..... in no particular order.....
Baking Soda at Bake My Day
Karina at Gluten-Free Goddess
On to the recipes..... in no particular order.....
Baking Soda at Bake My Day
Karina at Gluten-Free Goddess
Felicia at The Web Sorceress Cooks
Red Beans and Rice with Sausage
Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen
Giniann at Salt and Pepper
Patti at Adventures in Food and Wine
SusanV at Fatfree Vegan Kitchen
Mexican Pumpkin Soup and Garlicky Greens
Jill from Glossy Veneer
From Sailu's Food
From Joe at Culinary in the Desert
Biscuit Girl at You Gonna Eat All That? -Ribollita
Faith at Blog Appetit - Asian Noodle Soup
Faith also has a whole blog dedicated to soup at Blog Appetit Does Soup!
Lastly, my own entry. 
A big thank you to everyone who participated. I was hoping to try a new recipe and post it here this weekend, but I got carried away with brownies and pizza. Not necessarily a bad thing.
And now, to announce the theme for next week..........this time we're going to do someting a little different. Once a month or so, I'd like to select a spice or herb for the theme. It can be any kind of recipe - sweet or savory - as long as it includes the spice or herb selected. This time, I'd like to select Cardamom. It's not something I cook with very often at all, but when I smelled it the other day while making the Ginger-Carrot Muffins, I knew I wanted to try more recipes that use it.
For next week, I'd love to have a guest host for VRC. Anyone willing? As host, you would be responsible for posting pictures and recipes, but you also get to pick the theme? Let me know!
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